Product Stewardship

Product Stewardship is the act of minimizing risk of health, safety, environmental and social impact, and maximizing economic benefits of a product and its packaging throughout all stages of product use, reuse, disposal and/or destruction. The producer of the product has the greatest ability to minimize adverse impacts, but other parties, such as suppliers, retailers, consumers, handlers, and disposal facilities also play a role.

Product Stewardship at Altiras

For a host of reasons, Product Stewardship in secondary chemicals is considerably more complex for companies involved in beneficial reuse than for typical commodity or specialty chemicals. First, considerably less information is typically available for secondary chemicals. For example, secondary chemicals rarely have specifications, technical data sheets, handling and use guidelines and often fail to have a proper SDS. Second, most suppliers of secondary materials just want the materials to “go away” since they have a small impact on the operating income once they are no longer wastes. The materials are more of a hassle to deal with versus an important part of the business. Finally, many producers of secondary materials still view the material more like a waste than a product and thus invest little in the development of literature as they do for primary products. This is why Altiras is the best choice for handling co-products, byproducts, and off-spec materials. Since these products are our PRIMARY business, we invest the necessary time, energy, and care to ensure proper Product Stewardship.

The Altiras Product Stewardship Program involves the following tenants:

Review and understand any supplier restrictions on product use or applications.

Review of product literature, including Technical Data Sheets (TDS’s), Safety Data Sheets (SDS’s), Product Specifications, Product Use and Handling Guidelines, and any other literature available for the product.

RCRA and State compliance review to understand potential regulatory issues. Address any issues identified with manufacturer.

Placement of documentation and product information into Altiras proprietary product management system AltNet

Request & Receive Samples. Samples logged into AltNet

Product Analysis. Data placed into AltNet and linked to entry for product and sample.

Review of historic product data, load to Altnet

Comparison of product analysis and historic data to literature provided. This step often identifies hazardous constituents that were not previously identified by the manufacturer.

Creation and/or update to SDS, TDS, Specifications, and other documentation. Place in AltNet and link to product and samples.

Marketing, within restrictions of use established by supplier

Provide product literature to interested customers, as needed.

Provide samples to customers as needed. For HMIS ratings of 2 or higher, review safe handling precautions with customer.